By popular request....workflow tutorial.

Hello to all!! While I do not consider myself an expert with PSCS or photography in general, I have been asked many times (since I began posting pictures of my daughter Julia) if I could describe my workflow. I don't think I do anything extreme or different than many of you but I know from my own learning experience that one can often glean a small trick or step that maybe was overlooked or forgotten. Here is a step-by-step explanation as to how I processed the following shot and made it ready for the web. Hope this helps and if you have any questions or see that I have omitted something, just let me know!! Thanks for looking........and reading!

The shot.

I use either BreezeBrowser or PhotoMechanic to sort through my images. I constantly switch back and forth between the two programs. Presently I am back to using BreezeBrowser. I liked this shot of Julia because she came ever-so-close to grabbing the lens and it was one of the few that turned out. The slant was total coincidence and was not done by design..........The shot was taken with my Canon 1D and a Sigma 15f.28 Fisheye lens.

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I shoot everything in RAW. I am so used to it now that JPEG seems almost 'boring'!! I actually have my 1D set to record RAW+smJPEG......that way BreezeBrowser has a JPEG to display. The downside to this is that I still have to look at the 100% version in the PSCS converter to make sure that the shot is acceptable as far as focus and sharpness. Once I have decided on the shot, I click on EDIT and PSCS boots up and I see this:

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As you can tell, I didn't have my white balance set correctly. Not a problem since I shot in RAW. You can also see that Julia was standing in the shade so a quick click and voila........WB is correct and already makes the shot look more natural. Here are the details to what I did within the PSCS RAW converter:There are 4 tabs where you can make changes.

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Looking at the shot after these settings you can see that the blue-ish tone is gone and I have boosted some of the colours that I felt were there but needed a little life. I am happy at this point with how this shot looks...........I am going to use this shot for the web hence the use of the sRGB colour-space. If I knew I wanted to print this shot, I would probably use Adobe RGB colour-space. Native resolution from my 1D is 2464 X 1648.........I could upsize if I was going to go for a larger print. Resolution of 240 is plenty for a web-based shot.........I would probably use 300 pixels/inch if I were to print a hard-copy. Oh yes, I also rotate the shot so it is in a vertical position. Click OK and now I have TIFF file ready for a little more post-processing. I always save it at this point.

The Post Processing.

First thing I do is to check for focus by looking at the shot in 100% mode. I always try to focus on the eyes so this is where I want to make sure I have hit the focus. This shot looks good in that respect. Next step is to make a copy of the layer (in case something goes awry and I can always start from fresh!!). I notice in this shot that there is some shadow info that the shadow/highlight tool can probably fix. You have to tread lightly with this tool though since you can make humans look like aliens in short order!

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Go to IMAGE-ADJUSTMENTS-SHADOW/HIGHLIGHT... and you will be at this screen:

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The changes I made had to do with getting a little pop from the shadow detail of Julia's face. My settings were as follows:

I boosted the shadows as you can tell; you really have to play around until you get something that is pleasing to your eye. I find this tool great but also very subjective. What works for me may be over-done and unnatural for you. Experimentation is the name of the game. I boosted the colour correction as well just to pop the red a touch more. Works for me!! Click ok and I'm ready to crop!

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I generally like to use a 6 X 6 crop for portraits but in this case that would cut away Julia's arm (which I like in this shot!). What I find distracting is the telephone pole at the upper right. I will crop to get rid of this but retain the red hat against the blue sky which I feel is a real focus point. After the crop, here is what I have!

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Ok.......liking this more and more!! Next, I zoom to 100% because now I will do the first USM or unsharp mask. For the web, I use Fred Miranda's Intellisharpen II plug-in. I won't go into the details of this because not everyone will have this or use it. I find it does a great job for web work. Here's the way the screen looks when you enable the plug-in:

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I use an intellisharpen level of 75. That is generally my starting point. The nice thing about this plug-in is that you can undo if things seem to harsh. I press apply and let the plug-in do it's thing!Now I better resize this for posting on the web. I take the longest side and reduce to 800 px. I constrain the proportions and the end result is a picture that is 631 Px wide and 800 Px high.

One thing that you will notice by the screenshots is that the duplicate layer is gone. The intellisharpen plug-in will only work on a single layer, so it does warn you that it will be merging the layers. Remember to save before this if you ever want to go back a step or two. I like the shot and am ready to add the 2nd pass of USM. This time I use PSCS USM filter. Like this:

I normally am not too aggressive here and have used the following setting:Amount: 150%Radius: 0.3 pixelsThreshold 0

Now I save the shot as a Jpeg and carry it over to a stand alone program called Extensis Framemaker. I use a stock frame from within the program and end up with my final result, ready to post to the web.

Well, that's it!! Of course every shot is different but this is essentially what I do with my pictures of Julia. I am sure there are many wasteful things I might be doing but this has become habit and since I do this as a hobby, I find it is efficient for me! Hope this answers a few questions which have come my way via email and PM. I am flattered that some of you think that highly of my photography. It is really a matter of pure enjoyment for me and being able to watch my daughter grow up and chronicle it through pictures.

In a nutshell..Thank you so much. I picked up a new thing... that is actually using the raw converter detail and colour sections... usually i just do the first tab adjustments ie sat, cont, exp... etc... but i think i might have my hand on raw adjustments to sharpness etc also.. makes sense to do in in raw and not to the imported file.

drisley wrote:Excellent post schmoelzel!!!!Thanks for sharing. Many of the top photogs don't like sharing your secrets.The before and after difference is amazing. And, when did you get the fisheye lens?

Thanks Nabil for removing the quote. Much better

Thanks Drisley! Well, since I don't consider myself a 'top photog' , I don't mind sharing this since I don't think anything here qualifies as secret. The hardest part is getting shot in the first place!! I bought the Sigma Fisheye last week (used of course) and am initially impressed! I wanted something ultra-wide for my upcoming trip to Germany; many interesting streetshots are to be had in my wife's hometown of Lueneburg. Will have more to write about this little lens in a few weeks when I am back.

Nabil-A wrote:In a nutshell..Thank you so much. I picked up a new thing... that is actually using the raw converter detail and colour sections... usually i just do the first tab adjustments ie sat, cont, exp... etc... but i think i might have my hand on raw adjustments to sharpness etc also.. makes sense to do in in raw and not to the imported file.

HAHA Drisley, didnt even realise i did that

Thanks for taking the time to read this long post.......maybe I should include a 56K warning...........glad you got something out of it.

Wow ... the before/after comparison is incredible ... gives me hope for images that I thought were mediocre, but perhaps can be greatly improved. Mostly, I've learned that I need to learn much more about post processing. Thanks, Schmoelzel!

~ Jay ~Canon EOS 20D ... lenses and stuffWithout the Way, there is no going; Without the Truth, there is no knowing; Without the Life, there is no living. <><Help remove children from poverty: Compassion

Thanks for the post. That was truly enjoyable to see your workflow. The end result is amazing. The thing that I picked up from this was your use of the shadow/highlight tool. I have never thought to use it on my portraits.

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